In particular, the improvement of the present invention is applicable to the locking device illustrated in the co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/353,332 which was filed on Dec. 5, 1994 claiming the priority of the Italian Utility Model Application No. TV93U 000056 filed on Dec. 7, 1993 in the name of the same Applicant and will be referred to below for the description of a particular embodiment of the invention.
Such locking devices allow the leg-piece to be inclined backwards, resulting in a dual benefit: the skier is able to extract his/her foot from the boot more easily and able to walk more easily since the leg is able to assume a vertical position with respect to the foot.
However, these devices still have some drawbacks. In fact, even after opening the locking device, the skier still has some difficulties in extracting his/her foot which is completely surrounded by the boot and hence, in an attempt to free the foot from the latter, may also risk pulling out the inner shoe from the boot. This drawback frequently occurs in boots of the so-called "central entry" type where a "rear entry" shoe is combined with a "front entry" body. Extraction of the shoe may cause not a small amount of trouble for the skier in view of the special heavy sports clothing worn which makes his/her movements difficult or awkward.
The aim of the present invention, therefore, is to devise a locking device which makes it possible to overcome the drawbacks mentioned with reference to the cited prior art.